Recommended Reading

Warning: Offsite links are not safe spaces. Articles and comments in the links may contain ableist, sexist, and other -ist language and ideas of varying intensity. Opinions expressed in the articles may not reflect the opinions held by the compiler of the post. I attempt to provide extra warnings for material like extreme violence/rape; however, your triggers/issues may vary, so please read with care.

A Sydney cabbie is in the doghouse after refusing to allow a guide dog and its high-profile owner – Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes – into his vehicle. James Young could not have picked a worse person to turn away than Mr Innes, who is a lawyer and human rights advocate.

He promptly reported the cabbie to the Department for Transport, which launched a prosecution. Today, Young was fined $750 and ordered to pay $2500 in costs at a Sydney court.

When asked to provide his cab number, Mr Young gave five digits instead of four, which Mr Innes knew to be a false number, the court heard. Mr Innes then reported the cabbie to the Department of Transport, which launched the prosecution.

Mr Young denied the allegations, telling the court he had no problem with the animal and had been unable to move his cab as it was blocked by other taxis.

”I have got a lot of respect for people,” Mr Young said. ”I love handicapped people.”

Ms Huber found that Mr Young had discriminated against Mr Innes and disagreed with the suggestion made by Mr Young’s counsel, Craig Bolger, that no harm had been caused.

We hear so many annoying and unpleasant things as physically disabled people. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could leap to our feet (or fall out of our chairs) and yell: ‘BINGO!’ This body of literature is so vast and rich, we decided to divide it into categories for easy reference:

I’ll try not to sound too fan-girlish here as I write about the documentary Scrambled: A Journey through PCOS by Randi Cecchine, but admittedly, it is a difficult task. For in this film, which chronicles Cecchine’s struggle with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, we meet a filmmaker brave enough to show us, wart-hairs and all, the challenges inherent in this disease embodied. She does so with humor, with information, and with space for personal reflection.

Basically, the school still treats homosexuality as a mental problem. This is bad because it doesn’t serve queer students’ needs. It’s not bad because mental problems are bad but the effing pull quote or whatever, above the fold, HUGE, said, “Going to the psychology building to say you’re gay is like going to say you’re crazy.”

I could physically feel my anger when I saw that. It was… interesting. And it was fun (in a weird way) to be angry and know the source (the article) and know what I can do (blog, comment, e-mail).

I don’t think I’ll comment the person who said that (they used her name, so a quick search in the school directory would give me her e-mail) because she’s a victim of ableist thinking and a freshman, so it wouldn’t be nice. Plus, it’s the paper’s fault for going with that tone.